Cool. I think our posts crossed, I was asking Berin. I think I've talked with you about local gyms on another forum. I knew you were at a Gold's. I train at Fitness First in Tysons. I've been pretty satisfied there. They have a PL team, a lot of really strong and serious lifters, and great equipment. In the six months that I've been a member, I can count on one hand the number of 1/4 - 1/2 squats I've seen.

I may go to the Richmond Open, too. I need to talk with Matt about that, after next week's meet.

Hmm, there's a Fitness First right around the corner from where I work. I pass by it when I go to 5 Guys on training days... I may check to see if that particular location works as well as your Tyson's location. Based on a forum response somewhere random, it seems like the owner of the Tyson's Fitness First is the reason it is so power lifting friendly. I'm hoping for at least some consistency between locations though.

It is true that the former (recently) general manager was PL friendly. Thankfully, the new gm is the same. They're expanding this location and it looks like more good equipment is coming in. I've been told that their Arlington location has a lot of great equipment too, though it has more of a crossfit angle. One of the staff told me that a number of their facilities have platforms.Before I joined, I checked them out with a free pass and was never pressured to join. I had to wait for my old gym membership to expire and they never bothered me about that. The price is definitely right, and if they have normal place out in Leesburg, how can you go wrong? Plus, they are at least listed as a PL or PL friendly gym at Powerlifting Watch.

As for the octagonal plates, the only helpful hint I can give is to load them in such a way that the "points" aren't lined up. So with 2 plates, you'd have 16 points instead of 8, 3 plates 24, etc. This gets you closer to a circle. Not perfect, but better.